Lost in the hubbub over the slots referendum — Question 2 on the November ballot — is the debate on Question 1 — the other state constitutional amendment on the ballot that will permit early voting throughout the state.
Republican senators, who are divided on slots, tried to revive the debate on early voting this week by taking a strong position against an idea they’ve long opposed.
New Senate Republican Leader Allan Kittleman said early voting sounds like a good idea. But Kittleman thought voters would not approve it “if you put on the ballot that voting anywhere in the state for two weeks before the election without identification would be allowed.”
Instead, ballot Question 2 says that the constitutional amendment “authorizes the General Assembly to enact legislation to allow qualified voters to vote at polling places inside or outside of their election districts or wards and to vote up to two weeks before an election.”
It also allows the legislature to “allow absentee voting by qualified voters who choose to vote by absentee ballot.”
The General Assembly passed such a law in 2006, even overriding Republican Gov. Robert Ehrlich’s veto of the bill. But the Court of Appeals rejected the plan, affirming a Circuit Court’s ruling that the Maryland Constitution limited elections to a single day, the first Tuesday in November, except in the case of absentee ballots.
Kittleman’s principal objection is a “lack of protection for fraud,” since no identification is required. Kittleman is particularly concerned that Maryland does not require proof of legal residence to get a driver’s license and those getting a license are also given voter registration forms.
“I think Republicans would like to create policy out of a problem that doesn’t exist,” said David Paulson, spokesman for the Maryland Democratic Party. “Republicans have got a message that has no facts behind [it],” though Kittleman said they do have evidence of non-citizens voting.
“The Maryland Democratic Party is foursquare in favor of this constitutional amendment and early voting,” Paulson said. It wants to make voting “as easy and accessible to as many qualified voters as possible.”
He said the party is planning a number of “messaging and visibility events” to tell voters that early voting is important and they need to vote yes on ballot Question No. 1.
